Alden Fairbanks: Broker/Owner, General Contractor
With over 10 years as president of Market Ready Properties, Alden Fairbanks, a California native, is known for his attention to detail and customer service. His family first moved to Santa Barbara in 1946 and have enjoyed and contributed to their beloved city ever since. He takes pride in going the extra mile to make the process of buying and selling homes a pleasant, stress free experience for all involved. Prior to founding Market Ready Properties he built homes tailored to the expatriate and European communities in Costa Rica. His passion for building, his creative spark and his love for Santa Barbara led him to found a real estate / home renovation company offering unprecedented service and benefits to clients. Alden has two teenage sons. Hobbies include fishing, scuba diving, stand up paddling, golf and attending classical music concerts.
How much more would your Santa Barbara area home be worth if you had The Market Ready Advantage?
Whether you are buying or selling, Market Ready Properties earns your business by adding value to your Santa Barbara area home at little or no cost to you. How do we do this? We are not only a full service brokerage firm but a general contracting firm as well, with an experienced, professional staff ready to go to work for you.
For sellers Market Ready Properties prepares the house for sale, giving homes Market Ready curb appeal for faster sales. Our goal is to unlock the true potential of your property. We are now in a strong buyers market and industry statistics indicate that the best way to get the highest price for your home is to take care of deferred maintenance prior to listing, and ensure your home shows in its best possible condition. We take care of those issues and get buyers in the door.
For buyers Market Ready Properties adds value to the home you are purchasing, instantly enhancing your investment, saving the stress and hassle of finding reliable trades-people for the inevitable move-in repairs, and saving money and time for home buyers.
How we do it: Repairs and updates are prioritized based on an assessment of the most cost effective improvements designed to add curb appear and value. An at-cost budget and timeline are established. Repairs/improvements are performed at a 60-70% discount below going contracting rates. Repairs/improvements could include electrical repairs, plumbing repairs, tile repairs, carpentry, dry rot and termite repairs, painting and even landscaping. When the house sells the cost of the agreed upon work comes out of Market Ready Properties’ commission. If the property is taken off the market the only exposure the client has, is the cost of the deeply discounted improvements.
These services are the Market Ready Advantage resulting in added value and increased the sales potential of your property.
In order for this lovely home to show to its highest advantage, MRP cleaned up the landscaping, and among other things, completely painted the house inside and out. With these improvements the home reflected its true value.
Once we make our initial inspection of a home, we discuss possible improvements that will bring added value to a property. Our primary goal is not to remodel, but to make the house presentable to a potential buyer. However, remodeling may sometimes be warranted.
In the case of this Montecito home, major remodeling had previously been started, but ceased when the homeowner ran short of funds. Because this home had the potential to sell for a substantial amount of money, we felt it would benefit the seller to finish the remodeling project. We agreed to remodel the bathroom, change out old windows, re-plaster the "pop corn" ceilings and change the illegal garage conversion back to its original purpose. This work was done for the homeowner at our cost, which typically represents a 70% savings over market rates.
Within two weeks, MRP turned this property around. After removing wall paper, repainting inside and out, adding shutters to the plain facade, removing years of overgrown shrubs, and laying new sod, the house was ready to sell.
Prior to the work being done, this home was appraised at $850,000. It sold for $995,000.
Exterior facelift yielded big dividends.
Buyers benefit from our services as well. In this case, as soon as the purchase was complete, we did this interior improvement giving the homeowner immediate pride of ownership.
What a difference a set of French Doors makes, compared to an aluminum slider. This large Ranch style house in San Ynez was valued at between $1million and $1.1million. It sold for $1,250,000.
Spanish Bungalow &mdash This Spanish Bungalow suffered years of neglect. And the best offer it received in it's neglected condition was $495,000. After improvements, the home sold for $785,000.
After purchasing this 1929 Westside Cottage, the buyers wished to restore it to its original charm. Part of that restoration involved removing the large travertine fireplace surround, and rebuilding the fireplace to its original look. Likewise, the plywood kitchen cabinets were remodeled to reflect the cabinetry of the early 30s.
In addition to performing upgrades for buyers and sellers, MRP also takes on special projects. This 1898 Victorian in the heart of Santa Barbara is a prime example.
We did a complete restoration on this historic home, which included electrical, plumbing, plastering and a thoughtfully chosen final paint scheme.
What was once a monochromatic, off white house with major issues, became an award winner.
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